AN­GE­LO JE­DIDI­AH

Re­porter

an­ge­lo.je­didi­ah@guardian.co.tt

Colour and ex­cite­ment filled the Aranguez Sa­van­nah yes­ter­day as Phag­wa cel­e­bra­tions were host­ed, bring­ing to­geth­er tra­di­tion, com­mu­ni­ty and uni­ty.

Fam­i­lies and var­i­ous cul­tur­al groups ar­rived equipped with abeer and gu­laal, ready to par­tic­i­pate in the event host­ed by the Na­tion­al Phag­wa Coun­cil of Trinidad and To­ba­go, adding bursts of colour and fes­tiv­i­ty to every­thing and every­one around them.

Many pa­trons ar­rived al­ready sprayed and fresh­ly coloured af­ter spend­ing the ear­li­er part of the day par­tic­i­pat­ing in Phag­wa cel­e­bra­tions in com­mu­ni­ties across the coun­try, com­mem­o­rat­ing the re­li­gious fes­ti­val ob­served by the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty.

With ven­dors lin­ing the grounds of­fer­ing a range of cul­tur­al and lo­cal treats, the event fea­tured cul­tur­al en­ter­tain­ment, as pa­trons en­joyed live­ly chow­taal singing and dance.

Ch­agua­nas Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion coun­cil­lor Sun­dar Jookoo was among the many vis­i­tors and cul­tur­al groups who spent the day par­tic­i­pat­ing in var­i­ous Phag­wa cel­e­bra­tions across com­mu­ni­ties.

Ac­cord­ing to Jookoo, this year’s cel­e­bra­tions had so far been safe, in keep­ing with the fes­ti­val’s spir­it of uni­ty and to­geth­er­ness among peo­ple of all eth­nic and re­li­gious back­grounds.

“Re­mem­ber it is a spring fes­ti­val, good over evil. It is a cel­e­bra­to­ry time for every­one. It has been safe thus far with a smooth flow,” Jookoo told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day.

As a mem­ber of the Shri Kr­ishen Chow­tal Group of Fe­lic­i­ty, he said it is im­por­tant to pre­serve and share the art form of tra­di­tion­al chow­taal mu­sic, which is par­tic­u­lar­ly per­formed dur­ing the Phag­wa/Holi sea­son as part of East In­di­an cul­tur­al her­itage.

“It is an art form that we want peo­ple to al­ways re­mem­ber. You lis­ten to the mu­sic, the vi­bra­tion, it’s pos­i­tive.”

The fes­ti­val was brought to Trinidad and To­ba­go in 1845 by in­den­tured East In­di­an labour­ers from Bi­har, In­dia.

Phag­wa, al­so known as Holi, con­tin­ues to be one of the Hin­du com­mu­ni­ty’s most colour­ful and fes­tive cel­e­bra­tions, sym­bol­is­ing the tri­umph of good over evil and the ar­rival of spring in coun­tries with tem­per­ate cli­mates.